Howard Sounes on The 27 Club | Tantorious

Tantorious is a monthly podcast series featuring interviews with well-known authors, hosted by Allan Hoving and presented by Tantor Audio.

Howard Sounes is the bestselling author of several books, including biographies of Paul McCartney and Bob Dylan. His new book, 27: A History of the 27 Club Through the Lives of Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain, and Amy Winehouse, is the definitive history of the “27 Club” (music stars who died at the age of 27), revealed through the examination of its six most iconic members.

Excerpts from the audio interview:

Q: How did the 27 Club get its name?

A: The story goes way back to the 1960s and beyond, but it got its name in the 1990s when Kurt Cobain died and his mother was approached by a journalist asking for some reaction. She said: “Oh my god, he’s gone and joined that stupid club. I told him not to join that stupid club.”

Q: This is a dark subject. What do you hope listeners will take away from the book?

A: This book is very factual. There’s no mystery. Nobody murdered them, there was no conspiracy involved. They all eventually destroyed themselves. It’s a book about how six very talented people actually died – and what that reveals about them as people, and about the music business generally.

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